Israel-Palestine
Pressure for a ceasefire is starting to build. US President Joe Biden has now explicitly asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move quickly towards one and Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk told Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV that he expects one to be agreed within days. For now, Netanyahu has taken a defiant stance, saying the bombardment of Gaza will continue until Israel’s “goals are met”.
An interesting taking-stock piece from Middle East Eye here.
Iran
Encouraging news from talks on bringing the United States back into the nuclear deal between Iran and other world powers. Enrique Mora, the EU official chairing the talks, says that “substantial progress” has been made.
More from the Associated Press here.
Colombia
Colombia has now entered its fourth week of street protests. The demonstrations were initially against a now shelved tax bill but have grown into a movement calling for economic inequality to be addressed among several other issues.
More from Al Jazeera here.